Perspective
by Winter Winks 221
Summary: Danger Mouse never liked revealing his left eye- but when an over-starched eye patch leads to Penfold accidentally stumbling across his boss's secret, does DM decide to take his little friend into his confidence? Rated K just in case. (for slight mentions of DM's left eye)
1. Breakfast and Revelations

A/N: I have no idea if anyone else has seen this, but I've seen under DM's eyepatch! If you watch the Four Tasks of Danger Mouse, get to the part about the witches' broom, and watch until he lassoes it, then pause before he gets whisked round the room by the broom. If you're quick, his eyepatch is shown to be off his face, exposing his left eye- and it is how I describe it in this oneshot! I saw it! I have a screenshot of it on my Kindle Fire.

Reviews are welcomed, and I will understand if people resent me for finding and exposing the truth under our hero's eyepatch. Please feel free to read on!

In a perpendicularly perfect pillar box on the corner of Baker Street, Danger Mouse and Penfold were tucking into breakfast one Thursday morning.

Danger Mouse grimaced as he attempted to eat his hard-boiled egg; and not because the spoon had been ruined (again) in the attempt due to Penfold accidentally overcooking the eggs for the 150th morning now.

No, it was more that his eyepatch was exceptionally stiff.

"I say, Penfold, you've starched this eyepatch too much!" The mouse complained.

"I'm sorry Chief." Penfold answered sheepishly.

DM wanted to take it off for even a moment and relieve his irritated eye- but he was reluctant to let his best friend see his bad eye underneath. So, when Penfold wasn't looking at him, he accidentally on purpose knocked a knife off the kitchen table.

"Oh dear, what a butterfingers I am!" He said, trying to sound embarrassed.

"More like butter-elbows, sir," Penfold replied, chuckling at his poorly made joke. Danger Mouse rolled his eye.

"Ha, ha- how very funny Penfold." Danger Mouse replied sarcastically. Now, would you be so kind as to pick it up for me, please?"

Penfold frowned. This sounded too trivial a request for Danger Mouse to ask of him; but he hated being on the receiving end of the mouse's foul temper, so he merely said nothing and obediently went to grab it.

At once, Danger Mouse shifted his eyepatch from his left eye and rubbed at the surrounding area gingerly, feeling the relief seep into his skin.

...

Penfold, meanwhile, had retrieved the knife and was just about to rise again when a reflection in the blade caught his eye. It looked like... a black dot on white, before the black disappeared into a cloud of white.

But what could it be? He wondered. He looked up curiously, pondering on what that strange dot was.

He merely shrugged and put the knife on the table beside Danger Mouse's plate before sitting back in his own space again.

"Thank you, Penfold." DM said politely, hand covering his left eye. "Listen, could you do me another favour and get me a new eyepatch please, old chap? This one is a tad uncomfortable."

"Of course, sir," Penfold replied, and took DM's eyepatch away with him. The mouse sighed and allowed his left eye a chance for some air.

Oh gosh, how he resented it! It was an ugly thing- a tiny black dot, almost like a perpendicular hole, on his face.

He had been born with only one eye. His mother, a famous and celebrated female spy, gave birth to him climbing up Mount Everest, and he successfully completed the hike hours after.

When he was taken back to England, he was diagnosed with anophthalmia; though he never learned this until he was older- about six years old, when his mother sat him down and explained the reason for the absence of his left eye.

Due to this horrifying condition, he had no choice but to wear an eyepatch. Anyone who found the truth behind this teased him mercilessly, and made him feel like a freak who didn't deserve to have friends.

Some were more understanding, but they were never allowed to see under his eyepatch, for personal reasons. Heck, even Colonel K had only seen his lack of a left eye briefly due to a medical examination.

"Here you are, sir- a fresh new eyepatch for your left"-

Danger Mouse jumped out of his skin as he heard Penfold's voice address him. Jolting back into reality, he realised with horror and dismay that he had forgotten to cover his left eye with his paw.

 _His missing eye was laid bare for Penfold to see._


	2. Comfort

A/N: I could have sworn I read Danger Mouse's hike up the Himalayas after birth somewhere- anyhow, anything to do with his backstory does not belong to me. It will belong to... Cosgrove? Someone who's not me anyway. My sincere apologies for a lack of clarity.

...

DM's heart began racing in shock at what had just happened.

 _No, no, no, no!_ He wanted to scream. _Penfold was never meant to know!_

Tears filled his eye as memories of the last person (except Colonel K) had said to him when his bad eye was exposed. Stumbling off the chair, Danger Mouse left the kitchen hurriedly, his knees wobbling and composure at breaking point. He failed to see Penfold's hurt look.

...

Penfold was surprised that he had chanced on seeing the World's Greatest Agent in a vulnerable position; but knowing that his premature presence had been the reason DM fled the room nearly made Penfold cry. He didn't mean to see Danger Mouse's non-existent eye- it was an accident!

Even so, he couldn't let an eyepatch be the only reason the mouse was confident enough to save the world! He squared his shoulders, and left the kitchen.

...

He found his best friend sitting on his bed with one cheek buried into his kneecaps, trying to hold back tears of shame and sadness. Penfold felt a pierce at his heart at this heart-breaking sight.

"Chief?" He asked quietly.

Ears cocked, and DM looked up, startled at being disturbed. "Penfold, just leave me alone..." DM said stubbornly, turning away from his assistant.

"Why, sir?" Penfold asked, undeterred by his friend's rejection.

"You saw it, Penfold. My eye!" the White Wonder insisted, allowing his face to rest on his knees again. He didn't want Penfold to be here-not now, not ever. He didn't want the hamster's sympathy. He just wanted the wretched grandfather clock to magically appear so that he could go back in time and have Penfold forget this wretched deformity he possessed.

Penfold could only watch, heartbroken, as his best friend continued to weep -almost silently- into his knees.

"DM? Danger Mouse, look at me. Please?" he pleaded gently, allowing a paw to touch his boss's back ever so gently.

DM reluctantly obeyed, his right eye shimmering with tears. He was surprised to see that, despite his initial fears, Penfold was smiling gently at him and showed no signs of feeling either revolt or pity.

Just curiosity, respect and love.

Just seeing these emotions in his friend's eyes calmed the World's Greatest Secret Agent enough to help him relax slightly- although his tears remained.

"DM, please, why are you so upset about me seeing your left eye?" Penfold asked curiously, without the slightest hint of accusation in his tone. This question unnerved DM, but he had always trusted Penfold with his feelings before...

"Well, when I was a lad, I felt I was different from everyone else. Kids who saw it called me names." The White Wonder sniffed quietly. The few friends I had long ago never got to see my eye for fear of- of"- he stammered. "The point is, I never trusted anyone outside of family to see my bad eye. That is, until today." He regarded Penfold carefully before continuing. "It's not that I don't trust you, Penfold, because I trust you so, so much- I just hate exposing my left eye, because people who have seen it either bully me or say well-meaning but unhelpful things about it."

This silenced the hamster. Imagining his beloved boss as a child, weeping over something he was being bullied for and could not change, sparked a sense of injustice in Penfold's heart.

"Why do you have one eye, sir?"

The question was out in the open. Penfold watched nervously as Danger Mouse's shoulders stiffened as though pierced by a dagger. DM turned his one good eye to his loveable assistant, and sighed.

"Well, Penfold, you know my origin story, right?"

"Back to front, sir." Penfold replied loyally.

"Well, there is one detail I omitted to mention." The white mouse continued, looking at Penfold, who looked curious and anxious at the same time, like a schoolboy waiting to hear the next chapter of his hero's life story.

"You see, I was born with anophthalmia, which means I only have one eye. I was officially diagnosed with the condition on my return from Everest with my mother." He said sadly.

Penfold's eyes widened with a boyish wonder. "What happened next, Chief?" He asked in quiet awe.

"Well, my mother said I would have to wear an eyepatch for it. And I still do."

"Do you _have_ to wear the eyepatch, DM, or is it just to hide your eye?"

"Just to hide it." His boss responded with a sigh.

Penfold gently placed a paw under DM's chin and tilted it towards him, a warm smile on his face, and his eyes sparkling behind his specs.

"DM, I promise you that me knowing about your eye will change nothing between us. We'll still be chief and assistant, and best friends too, of course- may that be fighting all our enemies, or snoozing side by side on the sofa waiting for a new mission to come in from the Colonel."

Danger Mouse chuckled weakly at this profound and earnest statement, wiping his nose on his sleeve in a rare moment of ungentlemanly behaviour. Penfold neglected to comment on this, and instead allowed his paw to fall from his friend's chin and hold DM's paw gently in his own.

"Our friendship will never change on something out of your control. The reason why nothing will change between us is because I love you, Danger Mouse, and nothing- nothing- will change how I see you; and I see you as my best friend, my boss and the mouse who never understood the meaning of the word limits." Penfold finished with a broad smile.

Danger Mouse gave a sniffle and a small smile, before pulling his assistant in for a warm embrace. "Thank you, Penfold," he said quietly. "I appreciate hearing that from you."

"You're welcome, Chief." Penfold replied, returning the hug with a kindly, supportive, gentle squeeze round his boss' torso.


End file.
